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kpete

(71,901 posts)
Tue Nov 11, 2014, 10:19 AM Nov 2014

Teacher’s resignation letter: ‘My profession … no longer exists’ [View all]


Here is one resignation letter from a veteran teacher, Gerald J. Conti, a social studies teacher at Westhill High School in Syracuse, N.Y.:

Mr. Casey Barduhn, Superintendent
Westhill Central School District
400 Walberta Park Road
Syracuse, New York 13219

Dear Mr. Barduhn and Board of Education Members:

It is with the deepest regret that I must retire at the close of this school year, ending my more than twenty-seven years of service at Westhill on June 30, under the provisions of the 2012-15 contract. I assume that I will be eligible for any local or state incentives that may be offered prior to my date of actual retirement and I trust that I may return to the high school at some point as a substitute teacher.

As with Lincoln and Springfield, I have grown from a young to an old man here; my brother died while we were both employed here; my daughter was educated here, and I have been touched by and hope that I have touched hundreds of lives in my time here. I know that I have been fortunate to work with a small core of some of the finest students and educators on the planet.

I came to teaching forty years ago this month and have been lucky enough to work at a small liberal arts college, a major university and this superior secondary school. To me, history has been so very much more than a mere job, it has truly been my life, always driving my travel, guiding all of my reading and even dictating my television and movie viewing. Rarely have I engaged in any of these activities without an eye to my classroom and what I might employ in a lesson, a lecture or a presentation. With regard to my profession, I have truly attempted to live John Dewey’s famous quotation (now likely cliché with me, I’ve used it so very often) that “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.” This type of total immersion is what I have always referred to as teaching “heavy,” working hard, spending time, researching, attending to details and never feeling satisfied that I knew enough on any topic. I now find that this approach to my profession is not only devalued, but denigrated and perhaps, in some quarters despised. STEM rules the day and “data driven” education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core, along with a lockstep of oversimplified so-called Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education and particularly not at Westhill.

A long train of failures has brought us to this unfortunate pass. In their pursuit of Federal tax dollars, our legislators have failed us by selling children out to private industries such as Pearson Education. The New York State United Teachers union has let down its membership by failing to mount a much more effective and vigorous campaign against this same costly and dangerous debacle. Finally, it is with sad reluctance that I say our own administration has been both uncommunicative and unresponsive to the concerns and needs of our staff and students by establishing testing and evaluation systems that are Byzantine at best and at worst, draconian. This situation has been exacerbated by other actions of the administration, in either refusing to call open forum meetings to discuss these pressing issues, or by so constraining the time limits of such meetings that little more than a conveying of information could take place. This lack of leadership at every level has only served to produce confusion, a loss of confidence and a dramatic and rapid decaying of morale. The repercussions of these ill-conceived policies will be telling and shall resound to the detriment of education for years to come. The analogy that this process is like building the airplane while we are flying would strike terror in the heart of anyone should it be applied to an actual airplane flight, a medical procedure, or even a home repair. Why should it be acceptable in our careers and in the education of our children?

My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust, dictating that teachers cannot be permitted to develop and administer their own quizzes and tests (now titled as generic “assessments”) or grade their own students’ examinations. The development of plans, choice of lessons and the materials to be employed are increasingly expected to be common to all teachers in a given subject. This approach not only strangles creativity, it smothers the development of critical thinking in our students and assumes a one-size-fits-all mentality more appropriate to the assembly line than to the classroom. Teacher planning time has also now been so greatly eroded by a constant need to “prove up” our worth to the tyranny of APPR (through the submission of plans, materials and “artifacts” from our teaching) that there is little time for us to carefully critique student work, engage in informal intellectual discussions with our students and colleagues, or conduct research and seek personal improvement through independent study. We have become increasingly evaluation and not knowledge driven. Process has become our most important product, to twist a phrase from corporate America, which seems doubly appropriate to this case.

After writing all of this I realize that I am not leaving my profession, in truth, it has left me. It no longer exists. I feel as though I have played some game halfway through its fourth quarter, a timeout has been called, my teammates’ hands have all been tied, the goal posts moved, all previously scored points and honors expunged and all of the rules altered.

For the last decade or so, I have had two signs hanging above the blackboard at the front of my classroom, they read, “Words Matter” and “Ideas Matter”. While I still believe these simple statements to be true, I don’t feel that those currently driving public education have any inkling of what they mean.

Sincerely and with regret,

Gerald J. Conti
Social Studies Department Leader
Cc: Doreen Bronchetti, Lee Roscoe
My little Zu.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/10/1343935/-Teacher-s-resignation-letter-My-profession-no-longer-exists
61 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The recurring theme: No opposition. Eleanors38 Nov 2014 #1
+1 Enthusiast Nov 2014 #10
This is not just sad, it is catastrophic for the education of our citizens. northoftheborder Nov 2014 #2
Are teachers quitting in droves? No. frazzled Nov 2014 #3
I personally know 6 teachers who have quit in the last 10 years. hobbit709 Nov 2014 #5
I personally know more teachers who have not "quit" in the last 10 years. My sister in New York Cha Nov 2014 #33
That is the exact same argument used by people denying police brutality. F4lconF16 Nov 2014 #36
I'm stating a fact.. too bad you have to bring "police brutality" into my sister's tenure as Cha Nov 2014 #40
How denigrating this post is. Le Taz Hot Nov 2014 #6
How so? I am a huge supporter of teachers frazzled Nov 2014 #15
My skin is just fine but thanks for your concern. Le Taz Hot Nov 2014 #19
Perhaps look up "denigrating" TBF Nov 2014 #28
Pearson is a British corporation. How's that for the British revenge? Dont call me Shirley Nov 2014 #30
Four hundred new teachers in my district and many of those job openings 1monster Nov 2014 #9
did your district sabbat hunter Nov 2014 #42
No. 1monster Nov 2014 #46
Obviously, your are not a teacher. Thespian2 Nov 2014 #13
Obviously, "your" not either. frazzled Nov 2014 #16
Thank you Thespian2 Nov 2014 #23
I'm reminded of a scene from the Simpsons: Initech Nov 2014 #21
Droves? I can't speak to that. LWolf Nov 2014 #18
Apparently you think quantity has a quality all its own... KJG52 Nov 2014 #22
You are pointing out the number of teachers dixiegrrrrl Nov 2014 #24
^^THIS^^ freebrew Nov 2014 #55
It is the death of institutional memory which rarely is mentioned dixiegrrrrl Nov 2014 #56
It's been planned for a long time, IMHO... freebrew Nov 2014 #57
In this economy very few people quit any job no matter how frustrating. wcast Nov 2014 #31
Yes, actually. Smarmie Doofus Nov 2014 #44
Yeah. Actually they are. Many are taking ERO (early retirement option). Tatiana Nov 2014 #58
Or because, like the teacher who wrote this letter, frazzled Nov 2014 #60
Part of the Bush-Page-Spellings-Obama-Duncan plan. earthside Nov 2014 #4
+ 1 Wella Nov 2014 #27
I retired from teaching just in time Teacheral Nov 2014 #7
This letter is 18 months old. Indydem Nov 2014 #8
"would have done something besides make it worse" < You mean like we have with the climate? n/t jtuck004 Nov 2014 #45
Corporatocracy at work. And there's more to come. Auggie Nov 2014 #11
Same reason I got out of the career Fearless Nov 2014 #12
Already done--they're called charter schools. Ka hrnt Nov 2014 #37
Fair enough. Fearless Nov 2014 #51
kick Liberal_in_LA Nov 2014 #14
United oligarchy, not gridlocked democracy. woo me with science Nov 2014 #17
40 years of failed policies under Reagan brought us here. Initech Nov 2014 #20
A Sad K & R !!! WillyT Nov 2014 #25
Bet a lot of journalists and reporters feel the same, too. Cleita Nov 2014 #26
+ Infinity Octafish Nov 2014 #38
Young people don't know the loss. I'm an ordinary person who grew Cleita Nov 2014 #52
"Rotten To The Core" = common core Dont call me Shirley Nov 2014 #29
.... 840high Nov 2014 #32
Got any more recent "I quit" letters? I thought I had seen this before.. it's from April 6, 2014 Cha Nov 2014 #34
Our education system is broken bigwillq Nov 2014 #35
Same reasons I left the profession. southerncrone Nov 2014 #39
I felt like this the day two imbeciles w. clipboards came into the classroom..... Smarmie Doofus Nov 2014 #41
"The coming crisis: Too few teachers for NC" WorseBeforeBetter Nov 2014 #43
Oh, please. There is no crisis. These people will happily teach us into becoming like the poverty- jtuck004 Nov 2014 #47
This is why I retired earlier than planned. DamnYankeeInHouston Nov 2014 #48
As did... YvonneCa Nov 2014 #49
I could rec this a thousand times. defacto7 Nov 2014 #50
Agreed... elzenmahn Nov 2014 #54
"Process has become our most important product" Iwillnevergiveup Nov 2014 #53
Sounds like the sentiments of my veteran teacher friends..... Paladin Nov 2014 #59
kick woo me with science Nov 2014 #61
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